March 18th 2020: Coronavirus Day 4

Another late start to the day, but not before I had written to 2 friends in the USA , read the news online and answered many emails. Working from home?   I'm working from bed!

Long call from Eliot with his take on solutions to the economic situation.  The boys are still at school but that can't last long.  Nancy also still teaching, but pupil numbers are low and staff are off sick.  She's been taking a long walk to school to avoid the bus.

Rupert and Laura are going to Southwold this weekend.  Laura needs to get out of the house!   I think we shall all be using Southwold as a bolt hole.   We are lucky to have it.

Finished cleaning the kitchen before lunch and Peter is now vacuuming the floor before I wash it.  Long time since I did such a thorough job.  Our nice cleaner, Agata, is stuck in Poland with no way of getting out.  We messaged each other today and we paid her a week's wages with a little extra.   We won't be seeing her for a long while.

Kate came round this afternoon.  I made her a cup of tea in her own cup and we sat in the garden under the clematis, well wrapped up and 2 metres apart.  We chatted for over half an hour before it got a little cold and damp!   That's going to be our mode of social interaction for a while.

Peter drove to the chemist this afternoon to collect his prescription and to buy some eggs.  Earlier I had contacted our Chester Place What'sApp group to ask if anyone was going shopping.   I immediately got an offer of help and then Peter reminded me he was going out anyway.  I'm totally confused about what we should be doing. Kate went shopping to the market today.  Ros as gone to Pilates and is going to the hairdresser tomorrow.  I wish the Government would tell us what to do and take the guess work out of the situation.  I'm not as good as Peter at grey areas.   I like things in black and white!

This afternoon several members of the Wednesday knit and natter group attempted a Zoom conference call.  It took us all a while to get it right so we could all hear and see each other and then we all talked over each other and one person kept moving her ipad and swinging in and out of shot until I felt quite sea sick.  Kate and I got the giggles.  It was a scream!  However, it will work if we can engender some discipline!

We talked to Pearl on WhatsApp today and even got an email from Abe.  He was celebrating the fact that school is shutting down from Friday.  We don't know yet if Nancy will be needed to teach pupils for whom schools will be staying open - children of key workers.